It’s all over

The bar went off without much of a hitch. I stayed in the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario and walked next door every day to the test at the convention center. It was really beautiful there. The mountains just loom in the distance and the trees and flowers were in their full July glory.

I was terrified the night before the first day. I could barely sleep, but eventually I settled in and felt really confident on the test – 3 essays in the morning and 1 performance test in the afternoon (6 hours). That night Jarrod drove out and we had chinese food. The next day was much less scary because it was all multiple choice all 6 hours. That day I had dinner alone with a magazine and some merlot. I took a nap and Jarrod called frantically because his mom had popped her hip out on the phone with him and he was scared crapless for her. I of course was half dead asleep after the test and my merlot and I wasn’t really there for him enough.

The third day starting off very well. My predictions were 2/3 right for what would be on it. I had even studied the very topic the night before before bed! However in the afternoon we got a very complicated performance test. The law itself on it wasn’t bad but it was sorta tricky in how it was structured. I’m afraid maybe I didn’t give them the precise organization or structure they were looking for – and that makes me nervous maybe I failed. I don’t know.

So it was over, I hopped in my car and made the long drive back to Los Angeles. I slept hard that night. Then the next day Jarrod and I spent cleaning the place to make it look good for Derek, my best friend. He had flown in from North Carolina (well, technically he took a flight from Georgia.) and then left us today for Pebble Beach with his dad, grandpa, and uncle to play golf. I had met him years ago when he had come to visit me on Long Island, but mostly we talk online. He had had eye surgery (lasik) done and looked a LOT different than I remembered. He really looked great – lost weight, no glasses, did his hair in a much more attractive way. It was a blast having him around. We went on a ride through Bel Air via Mulholland Blvd, then went to 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. We walked along the pier and then headed up to Malibu to eat at Moonshadows.

We returned to the apartment and I walked with Derek down to the LA River where we sat and talked, got eaten by mosquitos, and saw some rat-possum scary thing run by. It felt so good to have him there. I missed him so much since the last time I saw him. Then Jarrod, Derek and I went to Hollywood to see the walk of fame, the handprints, and Grauman’s chinese theater, where we watched “The Manchurian Candidate.”

Then Sunday we went back to Hollywood to have lunch and take pictures of the Hollywood sign. It was hard saying goodbye, but Derek was packed for the road with two bags of Nestle cookies in his red convertible 2004 Thunderbird. And so he drove off into the PCH sunset.. god knows when I’ll see him again

Jarrod and I are finally relaxing after having some time to nap and kick back. It’s pretty quiet around here. I was going to go into work tomorrow but they are ripping up my driveway AGAIN and I don’t feel the need to damage my car more. So I’m not sure what I’ll do yet. Either way I’ll figure out what’s going on with the job sooner or later.

But as for the bar, I won’t know until Novermber.